Team Charley: Four-year-old fights leukemia with help from family, community

At the tender age of 4, Charley Myers is a warrior and the battle he is fighting is leukemia.

At first glance, you’d never notice anything different about him other than an infectious smile that will melt your heart.

It all started with Charley's back-to-school physical in August and the exam included bloodwork.

“Thankfully, our doctor does bloodwork on all the kids whenever we go in and his numbers came back very low that day and they called us immediately and had us retest the next day,” said Alissa Myers, Charley’s mom. “The next day, the numbers were still very low, so they sent us to the emergency room at Toledo Children’s right away.”

Charley was admitted to the hospital and the next day he was diagnosed with leukemia. The following 24 hours included having a port implanted in his chest so that medications could be delivered along with a bone marrow biopsy and a spinal lumbar puncture. Charley also received his first chemotherapy treatment. He returned home seven days later.

“Another trigger they will see in kids is they will start to bruise and be fatigued,” added Chad Myers, Charley’s dad. “But he’s a 4-year-old that runs around so chances are he’s going to have some bruises.”

“We were in complete shock,” is the way Alissa described hearing the diagnosis. “We had a complete summer thinking he was fine. Just a 4-year-old boy doing all the normal things we would do during the summer,” she said.

The family of five had recently returned from an Alpena trip with Chad’s family and were preparing for a new school year.

“We came home Thursday. Went to the doctor on Monday and on Wednesday he was diagnosed,” Chad said. “It was difficult. They told us Tuesday night the chances of him having it was very likely, but they couldn’t confirm it until the next morning.”

Without the blood test, the Myers didn’t know Charley had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer that starts in the blood and bone marrow.

Sharing that diagnosis with their other children wasn’t easy. Their daughters, Molly, 10 and Lilly, 8, took the news hard.

As for Charley, he didn’t quite understand why he wasn’t going to be able to start school like his sisters.

“It was hard at first because he didn’t feel sick, so he didn’t understand why he had to take medicine,” Chad said.

And like other kids his age, Charley doesn’t always like to take medicine and that’s where the support of his sisters come in. The girls will dance around and do funny things to encourage their brother and make him happy, so he’ll take his meds.

Unable to start preschool as planned, Charley wondered if he’d pass his sickness on to others.

“He asked, ‘I can’t go to school because I’ll make the other kids sick?’” Alissa said. “But we’ve explained to him it’s the other way around. We don’t want him to get any sicker.”

The Myers know if Charley gets sick that means he’ll be hospitalized.

Since the diagnosis, Charley and his family have made many trips back and forth to the hospital for tests and treatments. Some days treatment can last as long as 12 hours. It’s all part of a two-year plan to fight the cancer that will require outpatient chemotherapy, monitoring blood counts and evaluating symptoms.

In an effort to keep Charley comfortable on the days he has treatment, his parents will pack a variety of things for him to do from coloring to playing with his monster trucks or an iPad handheld computer.

“The first month we went together every day but now we’re going separately,” Chad said. “I went today by myself, and Alissa will go tomorrow.”

Charley’s chemo treatment takes place in a transfusion room with other children present. Right now, he’s one of the younger patients.

Since the day he was diagnosed, his parents have shared information about Charley on their Facebook pages and have received an outpouring of support from the community.

At a recent high school football game between Airport and St. Mary Catholic Central, gray and orange “Team Charley” T-shirts were sold as a fundraiser for the Myers family. The event was organized by Jim Duffy, Airport football coach, and his family.

Chad is the former athletic director for SMCC where Alissa teaches math and physics.

“When I told Charley that we are going to go to the Airport vs SMCC football game and that there is going to be a fundraiser for him with Team Charley shirts he yelled ‘Yay’ and raised both his hands. He is so excited to go and see everyone! Makes my heart so full to see him so happy! I really can’t thank everyone enough for the support that we have received this past month. Alissa Myers and I are just so blessed to have wonderful and caring people in our lives,” Chad posted in a message on Facebook.

“As a mom all you want to do is make your kid better. Sometimes you can’t on your own…but what does make it better…family, friends, and an entire COMMUNITY showing love, giving support, and sending prayers,” was Alissa's Facebook post.

The Myers realize the journey they face may have a few rough spots along the way, but with the continued support of grandparents, family, and friends, they aren’t alone.

“The support we’ve received from family, friends and strangers has been remarkable,” Chad said. “People I haven’t spoken to in years have reached out. For me, posting things on Facebook has been therapeutic and it’s just amazing the amount of support we’ve gotten.”

They both agree their faith keeps them strong.

“Coming from the SMCC community, we started to share this on Facebook because all we wanted was prayers for Charley,” Alissa said. “We want this known because we want people to pray and what keeps us going on a daily basis is that he’s doing well. To see him as a happy 4-year-old boy, that is what keeps us strong.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Charley Myers is a warrior and the battle he is fighting is leukemia.